Back in 2003, a small Icelandic video game company called CCP released an MMORPG game called Eve Online. Eve Online is a story about human civilizations in the far future colonizing the planetary solar system of a distant galaxy after the human race depleted all of the natural resources of our home planet. As generations evolved on the new planet system, the human race was divided into five different space faring cultures all competing for control of the new galaxy's resources. It's been ten years since CCP first launched Eve Online and it has become a long standing successful PC game with over 500,000 active players.

On August 18, 2009, CCP first made the announcement that they were developing DUST 514 exclusively for the Playstation 3. DUST 514 is directly related to and operates within the Eve Online Universe. The story behind DUST 514 is simple. Gamers playing Eve Online on PC are the pilots controlling customizable star ships throughout the galaxy of star systems in an RPG setting. However, gamers playing DUST 514 on PS3 are ground soldiers battling it out with rival corporate soldiers on the actual planet's surface in a more traditional FPS setting. While Eve players focus on the galactic battles, DUST 514 players focus on the physical ground combat.

The five main corporations are the same throughout both Eve Online and DUST 514. Gamers who choose the same faction in either game will then be able to interact and work together for the common goal of advancing their factions control over the planets resources. This results in many new and innovative gameplay features by CCP. The most notable feature is Cross Console gaming. This means that within the universe of Eve Online and DUST 514, PC gamers and PS3 gamers can play and communicate with each other seamlessly. No other gaming console offers such an impressive feature. One example of the interaction between DUST 514 and Eve Online in a real time gaming session is where a DUST 514 ground soldier can request an air strike from an Eve Online Star Ship (within the same military corporation). The result is an orbital laser strike that can wipe out an entire enemy ground platoon.

The graphics in DUST 514 are very well detailed and the sound quality is very good. The maps are very big which is ideal for vehicle combat as well as fighting on foot and setting up sniping positions. The gameplay mechanics are solid and the weapons have a nice hefty feel to them when shooting. Driving vehicles can be a little challenging at first, but once you get used to the controls, vehicles become a big tactical advantage on the battlefield. Most impressive is the fact that I have not experienced any online lag considering DUST 514 is a massive MMO online multiplayer game.

Battlefield operations are only one half of the overall DUST 514 experience. The second part of the DUST 514 experience is the strategy component that goes into building your perfect soldier. You will spend a lot of time in your private quarters changing up your armor, weapons and vehicle loadouts. DUST 514 also has a very deep and sometimes confusing skill system that you can use to boost your soldiers abilities on the battlefield. Getting to know the skill system will take time and can be frustrating for many gamers at first. However, for those gamers patient enough to learn the skill system, it goes a long way to improving your soldier and making the battlefield gameplay that much more satisfying and enjoyable.

Online MMO's don't usually start off perfected and instead improve over time while constantly evolving with the ever growing online community. DUST 514 is a very ambitious game and CCP already has a great track record with their other successful MMO franchise, Eve Online. Online MMO's are still a fairly new genre on home gaming consoles, but DUST 514 has already shown it has all the tools and potential needed to reach the successful longevity of Eve Online while also implementing many of its innovative features to stand out in a crowded market of generic console shooters. Any fans of strategy games or first person shooters should definitely give DUST 514 an opportunity.

The development team behind Injustice: Gods Among Us are no strangers to the fighting game genre or to the DC Universe cast of super heroes and villains. NetherRealm Studios, formerly known as Midway Chicago, is the studio behind the popular and successful Mortal Kombat series. They were also the studio behind the crossover title, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe and more recently, the 2011 re-boot Mortal Kombat. Following the success of those two titles, NetherRealm Studios decided to branch out and create a new fighting series specifically for the DC comics universe.

The story of Injustice starts off with the tragic destruction of the city of Metropolis and a grief stricken Superman that is pushed over the edge by the insane and maniacal Joker. Batman and the rest of the Justice League soon discover that this tragedy led to an alternate reality where an unknown Dictator took advantage of the tragedy to create a new world order. The Justice League are split up between both realities and must desperately uncover the mystery behind the alternate Earth so that they can prevent that same tragedy from occurring on their real Earth.

Much like the 2011 Mortal Kombat game, Injustice: Gods Among Us is more than a simple arcade fighter. NetherRealm Studios used the same cinematic narrative fighting formula that worked so well in the 2011 Mortal Kombat. Old school arcade fighters all suffered from the same problem of having a weak plot that tried to tie together the entire backstory of the game. NetherRealm found a way to successfully give arcade fighters an engaging plot while still maintaining the same old school arcade fighter feel that we all grew up loving.

The campaign portion of Injustice is carried out over ten chapters and is played through the point of view of several different heroes and villains. The story is played out through beautifully designed cut scenes and the interactions between the heroes and villains lead to the arcade style fights that play out the "battle" between them. The story itself is very well written and feels like a high quality story straight from the pages of the comic books. The overall graphics look amazing and the fighting mechanics feel very solid. Aside from standard attacks, each character also has special abilities specific to their gimmicks and can also fill up a power meter to unleash a devastating super combo attack. Players can also engage in wager battles known as the Clash system where each fighter gambles on the level of strength needed to win in a stand off against their opponents.

There is a large selection of Battle Arenas in the game to choose from including iconic locations within the DC universe like the Batcave, Fortress of Solitude, Metropolis, Gotham City, The Justice League Watch Tower and Wayne Manor. Each stage has specific environmental attacks that help inflict massive damage to enemy combatants. The background arenas are as beautifully designed as the characters themselves and feature many familiar non playable characters in the DC universe that make cameo appearances and in some cases even get involved in attacking players. Fans of the Batman Arkham series will even appreciate the extra Easter Eggs found in the Arkham Asylum arenas.

The game also features classic arcade style fighting options including Battle Mode, Versus Mode, King of the Hill and Survivor Mode. There is also a challenge mode known as S.T.A.R. Labs Mode which offers hundreds of different character specific challenges. Playing any of these modes, including the story campaign, builds up your overall XP and unlocks special bonus features including alternate costumes, icons and backgrounds for your player card, music and concept art. You can also unlock temporary bonus XP boosts for faster leveling up.

Overall, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a fantastic game for fans of arcade fighters or any DC comics fans looking for an entertaining Justice League game. The many different gaming options offer many hours of engaging gameplay and comic book fans will appreciate all of the nods to the history of DC comics. Overall Score: 8.5

Back in 2007, we were introduced to an exciting new underwater city named Rapture. The city of Rapture was the setting to one of this generations most amazing new game franchises, Bioshock. Fast forward to 2013 and we once again embark in a new adventure in the Bioshock universe. Only this time, there is no underwater city. There is no Rapture. This new adventure takes us up to the skies, in a marvelous new city as impressive as Rapture itself. This new floating city is Columbia and what lies ahead is a mystery so deep, it makes you question the entire Bioshock universe.

You begin the game as Booker Dewitt, a former Pinkerton Detective that was disgraced from the agency due to alcoholism and a gambling addiction. At the beginning of the story, Booker is hired to travel to the city of Columbia and retrieve a young girl. The successful completion of this job will result in Booker's debt being "wiped away". Booker manages to infiltrate the floating city and learns it is being controlled by a man named Father Zachary Hale Comstack who has convinced the citizens of Columbia that he is a Prophet. When it is discovered that Booker is in Columbia attempting to free the young girl named Elizabeth from Comstacks control, Comstack has Booker labeled as a False Shepard leading Booker to have to fight his way through the city to reach Elizabeth. Once Booker reaches and rescues Elizabeth from her state of imprisonment, the two work together to fight their way through Columbia in search of a way to escape the floating city while avoiding the giant mechanical bird like guardian named Songbird.

For a game that was released in the later part of this current generations console lifecycle, the graphics and visual scenery in Bioshock Infinite are beautiful and really help bring the city of Columbia alive. The gameplay is very similar to previous Bioshock games. You control a firearm in one hand and the powerful abilities known as Vigors with the other hand. Vigors in Bioshock Infinite work exactly like Plasmids and Tonics from the original Bioshock games. A few of these abilities include a fire attack, water attack, a possession ability and the ability to control a flock of attack crows. The gun fighting feels very solid and there is plenty of ammo laying around so you shouldn't feel too threatened going into any gunfight.

After you free Elizabeth from her state of imprisonment, she stays by your side throughout the rest of the game. This is where I feel Bioshock Infinite truly shined. Elizabeth was the smartest and most helpful AI character I have ever had the pleasure of playing beside. She locates money and ammo for you and assists you in battle by keeping you supplied in health and ammo. She is also an expert at lock picking and can open up locked doors and vaults that may contain money, weapons or upgrades. The most impressive ability Elizabeth possesses is the ability to open dimensional tears located throughout Columbia. Elizabeth can use these tears to bring ammo, health, weapons and automated defenses into your dimension to aid Booker in battle.

The enemies in Bioshock Infinite are more diverse than any previous Bioshock game. This time around you're not fighting off bands of splicers. Instead, you're fighting your way through normal security and police agents working for Comstack. There are also four classes of new larger mechanical enemies known as "Heavy Hitters" that act as replacements for the legendary Big Daddy characters from the original Bioshock games. These new Heavy Hitters include The Handyman, The Motorized Patriots, The Boys of Silence and the Sirens. In my opinion, neither of these Heavy Hitters posed any major threat and they all failed to live up to the intimidating feel of a Big Daddy.

The story behind Bioshock Infinite was very interesting. It would be difficult to go too much into detail about the story without spoiling the ending. However, I will say that I was left a little disappointed with the ending of the story as it felt a little too forced in my opinion and was more confusing than it needed to be. It's never a good sign when the ending of a story has you going back to question the entire plot while trying to make sense of all the inconsistencies. I also felt the final boss battle was very anticlimactic. Overall though I will say Bioshock Infinite was a fantastic experience and is so far one of the best games of 2013.

Playstation 3 Exclusive: The PS3 version of Bioshock Infinite came with a couple of exclusive bonuses for PS3 gamers. Much like with the Dead Space and Assassin's Creed franchises that both included a free digital copy of the original games of their respective series, Bioshock Infinite also came with an exclusive free digital copy of the original award winning Bioshock game. This is a great bonus for gamers new to the Bioshock universe or for long time fans that would love to replay the original game one more time.

The second PS3 exclusive bonus is the addition of the Playstation Move compatibility. PS Move has been a hit or miss with PS3 gamers and understandably so. In my years playing with the PS Move, I have found the motion peripheral works best with shooters and sports games. I have played through many PS3 shooters including Killzone 3, Resistance 3, Socom 4, MAG and DUST514 and in my opinion, Irrational Games did a very solid job of incorporating the PS Move Sharpshooter mechanics into Bioshock Infinite. For gamers like myself that enjoy a more interactive motion gaming feel, the Move Sharpshooter works very well and is a nicely added option. However, gamers that aren't comfortable with motion gaming may prefer the traditional Dualshock 3 controller instead.

Today I want to write a quick special blog to say thank you to everyone who has supported me here on IGN. I've only been an active IGN member for a little less than two months and I have already met a ton of great people and I have enjoyed countless hours of conversation with other gamers who enjoy gaming as much as I do. I mentioned in my introduction blog that I was considering starting up my own gaming related website and I greatly appreciate all of the follows and positive feedback my posts and game reviews have all recieved from each and every one of you. Its been a fun ride so far these first 8 weeks and I enjoy writing for you guys and I look forward to continuing writing blogs and game reviews for your enjoyment.

After last years E3 conference, I was lucky enough to receive an invite into the private closed Beta of DUST 514. It is nine months later and I am still an active member of the DUST 514 Beta community. This is honestly the longest Beta I have ever been a part of and looking back, it amazes me how much this game has evolved since the first time I logged in almost nine months ago.

Back in 2003, a small Icelandic video game company called CCP released an MMORPG game called Eve Online. Eve Online is a story about human civilizations in the far future colonizing the planetary solar system of a distant galaxy after the human race depleted all of the natural resources of our home planet. As generations evolved on the new planet system, the human race was divided into five different space faring cultures all competing for control of the new galaxy's resources. It's been ten years since CCP first launched Eve Online and it has become a long standing successful PC game with over 500,000 active players.

On August 18, 2009, CCP first made the announcement that they were developing DUST 514 exclusively for the Playstation 3. DUST 514 is directly related to and operates within the Eve Online Universe. The story behind DUST 514 is simple. Gamers playing Eve Online on PC are the pilots controlling customizable star ships throughout the galaxy of star systems in an RPG setting. However, gamers playing DUST 514 on PS3 are ground soldiers battling it out with rival corporate soldiers on the actual planet's surface in a more traditional FPS setting. While Eve players focus on the galactic battles, DUST 514 players focus on the physical ground combat.

The five main corporations are the same throughout both Eve Online and DUST 514. Gamers who choose the same faction in either game will then be able to interact and work together for the common goal of advancing their factions control over the planets resources. This results in many new and innovative gameplay features by CCP. The most notable feature is Cross Console gaming. This means that within the universe of Eve Online and DUST 514, PC gamers and PS3 gamers can play and communicate with each other seamlessly. No other gaming console offers such an impressive feature. CCP showed off the interaction between DUST 514 and Eve Online in a real time gaming session where a DUST 514 ground soldier requested an air strike from an Eve Online Star Ship (within the same military corporation). The result was an orbital laser strike that wiped out an entire enemy ground platoon. I already experienced enemy air strikes and I can tell you its a horrible feeling when you see it coming but you cant help but to stop and think how awesome it looks right before it wipes out your entire platoon.

In the past nine months, DUST 514 has continued to evolve in gameplay. The graphics are very nice for an MMO game and in my opinion, the controls continue to improve. You begin in your private quarters where you can manage your profile and player loadout. Once you select a battle, you're transported to a staging area with other soldiers in your unit. Once deployed, your character does a H.A.L.O. jump in a special dropsuit that lands on the battlefield. You can customize your dropsuit with different assault rifles, launchers, pistols and grenades. When firing your weapons, the guns have a nice heavy feel to them. As you progress in level and experience, you can upgrade to stronger dropsuits and weapons. While in battle, you can also call in player driven vehicle drops using a rapid deployment vehicle system. The ability to call in vehicles is a great strategic tool to help you in your attack plan. Operating the vehicles felt a little clumsy at first, but once you get the hang of it, they handle pretty smoothly.

It was also announced that DUST 514 is a Playstation Move compatible game. Opinions on the Move in general have been both positive and negative. The Move hasn't been a runaway success for Sony, but it hasn't been an absolute failure either. I applaud Sony for continuing to keep the Move relevant and supporting it in big titles like Dust 514 and Bioshock Infinite. I actually do own a Move and I will say in my opinion, it has been a great gaming option, specifically for shooters. I've had a blast (no pun intended) using the Move with other Sony hardcore shooters including Killzone 3, Resistance 3, SOCOM 4 and MAG. I've had the opportunity to experience DUST 514 with the Move and the gameplay has been pretty solid so far.

To sum up, I feel DUST 514 is a game that has a lot of potential to be a future great addition to the deep and rich library of Sony exclusives. DUST 514 has an appeal that should interest most fans of FPS, MMO or Strategy games. The best part is DUST 514 will be a PSN free to play download title (with the option of micro transactions within the game) and the public Beta is already open with a community that continues to slowly grow everyday. It's worth it to give the Beta a free download and try the game out for yourself. You might be surprised at how enjoyable this game is.